


Butterflies and Starry Skies

by ReyAndor19



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Ben Solo is not dead, Blue Butterflies, Butterflies, F/M, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Kylo Ren and Rey Are Not Related, Lonely Rey (Star Wars), Lothal Jedi Temple, Planet Lothal (Star Wars), Planet Tatooine (Star Wars), Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Redeemed Ben Solo, Rey Needs A Hug, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It, The World Between Worlds (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:14:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27194278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReyAndor19/pseuds/ReyAndor19
Summary: Rey has been living on Tatooine for a few weeks now, trying to figure out her next step. Everything changes when a butterfly appears, and with it, a way to bring back her other half.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 8
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been meaning to write this for so long, but I’ve been putting it off because I’m not exactly sure how to write a World Between Worlds story, despite the enormous number of times I’ve watched the Rebels episode this year (guilty 😂). Finally decided to start it so I can finish before the new LEGO Christmas special comes out and ruins all of my post-TROS Reylo dreams. 🖤🦋

Rey had been living on Tatooine for a few weeks now. If one could call it living.

There was an emptiness, a hole inside her. It had been there since the Battle Of Exegol. She knew it would never go away.

No one from the Resistance knew where she was, and no one here knew who she was.

It was lonely, but it was the only way to keep her friends safe.

Everyone she loved ended up dead. This was her way of protecting them.

She hadn’t hidden herself from the Force, though. She would never do what Luke had, shut herself off from it. She continued to learn from the Jedi texts, and Luke’s notes. Continued to hope that they would show her a way to find her other half.

So far, she’d found nothing.

Rey leaned all her weight against the old door, listening for the familiar squeal of the hinges as it opened. One of these days she would have to oil it… No, she told herself sternly. Tatooine was supposed to be a place for her to collect her thoughts, then move on. Coming to the place where the Skywalker legacy had begun was supposed to give her an idea of where to go, what to do. She’d meant to stay here for only a few days, but the days turned into weeks as the long hours bled together.

She slipped inside the Skywalker home, and pushed the door shut. It was old and rusty, much like everything else here, but something about the home gave Rey a sense of safety and security. She dropped the heavy bag of supplies, holding her breath as clouds of dust rose all around her. She really needed to sweep. Her eyes traveled over the dusty tables, chairs, datapads...and a butterfly?

“What…?” She stepped forward, rubbing her eyes. Was she hallucinating? Had she not been getting enough sleep? (The answer to the second question was yes).

A bright blue butterfly was perched on the table, looking extremely out of place in the simple, practical home and sandy desert.

That wasn’t the oddest part, though.

Somehow, the force signal emanating from the butterfly (did butterflies even _have_ force signatures this strong? Could butterflies be force-sensitive?) was startlingly familiar.

_Ben?_


	2. Chapter 2

The force signature was definitely Ben’s. There was no doubt about that. The fact that it was coming from a _butterfly_? That part was a little more confusing.

“How...who...what are you?” She asked the butterfly. Because of all the things that had happened in the last five minutes, talking to a butterfly was not the weirdest idea. She honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if it talked back. Unfortunately, it stayed silent. Rey took a slow step towards the butterfly, reaching out to the Force one last time to make sure the butterfly was really there, not just something her tired and lonely mind had dreamed up and made her see.

“Why are you here?” She asked, stepping closer. Still no response.

Well what had she expected? It was a butterfly, for force’s sake! Butterflies didn’t talk. Especially not butterflies with your dead partner’s force signature. Right?

It couldn’t be coincidence. It just _couldn’t_ . This _had_ to mean something.

The butterfly took off suddenly, and her heart sank. This was just someone’s escaped pet. Not a sign.

Then she noticed where it landed.

“Luke’s texts?” She asked, picking up the book. She slowly flipped through the pages until the butterfly landed on one. “The...World Between Worlds?”

Rey sat down, reading what she could decipher. “A plane within the Force existing between time and space that links all moments in time. The only known way to access it is through an ancient painting of the Morris gods in the Lothal Jedi Temple. However, this temple was destroyed many years ago. No one knows if it is even still possible to open the portal. The World Between Worlds is a mystical place, and there is even one report of…” her voice caught, and her eyes widened. “There is even one report of a Jedi saving a fellow Jedi from death using the power of the World Between Worlds. _Oh_ .” _Ben…_

This was it. This was what she’d been searching for during the lonely weeks she’d spent on Tatooine. This was the key to bringing her other half back.

The butterfly landed on her shoulder, and she offered it a smile, her first real smile since Exegol.

_You saved me from death, Ben. Now it’s my turn to save you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Expect updates with Mandalorian season 2 release date?  
> Also, I don’t know the exact number of chapters this will be, four is just my best guess. Next chapter covers Rey finding the Lothal Jedi Temple :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning: I HAVE NEVER SEEN THE REBELS EPISODES DEPICTING LOTHAL. I HAVE SEEN ‘A World Between Worlds’ AND THAT’S IT. I APOLOGIZE AHEAD OF TIME FOR ANY MISTAKES REGARDING THE TEMPLE’S LOOKS, BECAUSE I GOT MOST OF IT FROM WOOKIEPEDIA.  
> From what I learned on Wookiepedia (and from my memory of the one Rebels episode I’ve seen), I’m inferring that the Temple remained intact, and only the portal (the painting) was destroyed. If this is wrong, please yell at me in the comments and I can try to fix any mistakes.

Rey stepped onto the _Falcon_ , feeling like she was finally going home. She slipped into the pilot’s seat, tapping at the familiar controls. The ship took off, and she said a silent goodbye to Tatooine and its history.

The flight to Lothal seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, yet take centuries at the same time. She busied herself by rereading the pages describing the World Between Worlds and the Lothal Jedi Temple. More butterflies had appeared, each with the same, familiar force signature, and all the same shade of bright blue. They settled on her arms and head, a colorful and comforting blanket of fluttering wings.

The landing was tougher than she expected, but she eventually managed to set the _Falcon_ down beside the Temple’s entrance.

The old Jedi Order emblem was carved into the ground. Luke’s notes hadn’t said much about opening the Temple, but she knew you had to use the Force to lift the outer building. Only then would you gain access to what lay inside.

Stepping onto the symbol, Rey reached out to the Force and extended her hand. She heard stone grinding against stone, and the large wall in front of her slowly began to open, spiraling upward. _Woah_.

Looking back towards the cluster of butterflies one last time for reassurance, she took a deep breath and stepped forward.

“Luke said the painting was somewhere in the entrance hall, where the master would wait for their Padawan,” she murmured, some part of her knowing that the butterflies were somehow listening to her. After looking around, she saw the hall the Padawan would travel down, but not much else- _Wait! Is that…_ She knelt down on the floor, carefully picking up an old piece of...a painting?

“I think this is it,” she told the butterflies, showing them the piece. If one squinted at it and used their imagination a bit, they would be able to see the outline of a face. “The portal to the World Between Worlds.”

Or, what was left of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While it IS canon that a master and apprentice must work together to open the entrance, I like to think that the power of the Dyad, the fact that Rey has Palpatine’s power (if we really have to accept that they’re related), the fact that she is connected in a way to the Jedi of the past (which would include her former master, Leia), and her determination to bring back her other half, all help Rey open the entrance ‘alone’.  
> Or maybe the butterflies helped. *shrugs* Rey and Ben aren’t exactly master and apprentice, but their combined power would be more than enough to open the entrance.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a shorter chapter this time, but I haven’t had too much time to write this lately. The next chapter should be longer, and will cover Rey’s experience in the World Between Worlds- and possibly her reunion with Ben :)

The painting was shattered. It lay on the ground in hundreds of pieces.  Luke’s texts had said it was broken, but she hadn’t expected this. 

The butterflies seemed to notice her distress; a few settled on her head and shoulders, others perched on the bits and pieces of the painting.  _ You know what to do _ , they seemed to say, and she could almost imagine Ben saying the words to her, the way the quick glance they’d shared before transporting the lightsaber had.

Rey closed her eyes, focusing on the Force, letting it guide her once more. She heard the soft clicking sounds of the pieces fitting back together, felt tiny bits of gravel brush against her skin in their haste to be reunited, a whole painting again. When she opened her eyes again, they were damp with tears. 

She gazed up at the mystical painting, an unidentifiable emotion rising in her chest. Excitement, fear, nervousness, love, and so many more emotions all mixed into one. Rey moved the Daughter’s hand, and held her breath.  _ Please. Please be real. Please don’t be another dead end. This  _ has _ to work. _

She stepped back, trembling with excitement and fear. What if this didn’t work? What if...what if the painting had lost its powers after it had been destroyed?

A portal- the portal? -opened in front of her, and a sound that was half laugh, half sob escaped her. It was  _ real _ .

Rey stepped through, unsure of what she would find on the other side.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHH I’M SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG TO UPDATE THIS!  
> I want to finish this before the new Christmas special comes out, so a new chapter WILL come out soon, but I’ve been busy with NaNoWriMo so far this month, meaning less time for Butterflies and Starry Skies. I hope you enjoy this chapter, that you’ve enjoyed the previous chapter, and that you have a great day/night!

The second she stepped into the World Between Worlds, Rey was hit with hundreds of memories, all at once.

_ “You’re not alone.” _

_ “No! Come back!” _

_ “You’re a monster.” _

_ “The girl I’ve heard so much about.” _

_ “Please don’t go this way.” _

_ “You’re nothing. But not to me.” _

_ “I did want to take your hand.” _

_ “We’re a Dyad in the Force, Rey. Two that are One.” _

Words blended together and sentences overlapped. It would normally be overwhelming, but there was something about the voices that was comforting, like a warm hug or a mug of caf on a cold, dreary morning.

She was close.

The cloud of butterflies appeared beside her, and immediately began fluttering around her, seeming...excited? Rey couldn’t help but smile.

“Show me,” she said, her voice echoing out across the empty space. No, not empty. This place was filled to the brim with every moment in the galaxy that had happened. Every moment that was happening right then. Every moment that would happen in the future. Billions of possibilities. It was beautiful and overwhelming at the same time.

The butterflies floated forward a few feet, then waited. She could almost hear them asking  _ what are you waiting for?  _

She cautiously stepped one foot out into the space in front of her. There was no walkway she could see. She was standing with nothing supporting her, floating in the middle of the starry void. When her foot landed on seemingly solid ground (though she still couldn’t see anything  _ under _ it keeping her from plummeting), and a small ripple seemed to pulse through the very fabric of the world around her, she grinned and relaxed. 

She chased after the butterflies, running through what felt like nothing but thin air. Each footstep left a little ripple of energy behind. It was exhilarating. Sensing her excitement, a few butterflies dropped back to flutter beside her. Rey laughed. It had been so long since she’d just let herself and laugh and acknowledge the pure joy of  _ living _ .

Rey was so caught up in the run that she didn’t notice the figure that the cloud was leading her to. When she finally skidded to a halt only a few feet away from the figure, she was panting and grinning. Seeing the person in front of her, her smile faded and her breath caught.

“Ben?” She asked, hardly daring to let herself hope, let herself believe in the possibility that the figure only a few feet away from her truly was-

The figure turned to face her.


	6. Chapter 6

“Rey.”

It was a dream. It had to be a dream. But...no. It was real. All of this was real. Ben was here. “You came.”

“You...you’re here. You’re really here.” Tears flooded her eyes. “How…?”

“It’s the Dyad,” he explained. “We’re both connected. When one half of the Dyad dies, they don’t get to become one with the Force. They wait in the World Between Worlds, for the other to join them.”

She didn’t know who moved first, but suddenly they were embracing each other. “I missed you so much. I- I love you.”

“I know.” They both laughed. “I mean...I know, and I love you too. How did you find me?”

She pulled away. “They showed me the way,” she said, nodding to the butterflies. They’d remained where they were the whole time, watching the two reunite. “They just...appeared. I don’t know where they came from, or why, but...they lead me here. Is that strange?”

“Not really. I remember growing up...some of my closest and oldest friends were butterflies. They looked almost exactly like these.”

As if they’d been given some sort of permission, the cloud of butterflies flew over to them, perching everywhere they could.

“Thank you, old friends,” Ben said quietly, smiling at the radiant insects. “Thank you for leading Rey to me.”

The butterflies remained silent, but Rey could’ve sworn she’d heard them whisper  _ you’re welcome _ through the force.

“You know the way out, right?”

She nodded. “There’s a portal I came through, it’s not far away. We can leave on the  _ Falcon _ , and go...wherever we want.” His hand slipped into hers. It felt right to have their hands intertwined again.

“What are we waiting for?”

They strolled back to the portal, finally at peace. Just the two of them, and the butterflies, and the starry skies of the World Between Worlds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed, and may the Force be with you 🖤🦋


End file.
